172 - A Chinese boxwood carved scholar's rock

A Chinese boxwood carved scholar's rock Qing dynasty, 18th century Carved dramatically with jagged peaks, deep crevices and a brilliantly textured surface, inscribed with the mark ‘Yutang Jinxue, Pushan zhen cang’, 8cm high, with base 10.5cm high.(Import Duty Charged on the Hammer Price)落槌價徵收進口關稅 清十八世紀 黃楊木雕山子連木座，「玉堂錦雪」「璞山珍藏」款 Chen Jin (1807–1885), style name Xichun, sobriquet Pushan, and later Wuan Laoren, was a native of Li'ao village, Liushi, Yueqing, Zhejiang. He attained the rank of suigongsheng in 1858. An avid reader from childhood, he entered a private school at the age of seven and, as he grew older, devoted himself to seeking out books, with a particular passion for collecting rare and antiquarian works. His library eventually comprised more than 20,000 volumes, housed in the “Yunxiang Jingshe” (Studio of Fragrant Books). Following the bibliographical model of the Siku Quanshu Zongmu Tiyao (Annotated Catalogue of the Complete Library of the Four Branches), he compiled the Yunxiang Jingshe Shumu, recording the authors and official biographies of the works in his collection. The catalogue is regarded as an important record of local book-collecting history. Chen Jin devoted his life to the collecting of books. He would purchase books at considerable expense and remained undeterred even when his resources were exhausted. His collection encompassed the Four Branches - Classics, History, Philosophy, and Literature - and at its height comprised more than 590 titles and 20,000 volumes. Together with the collection of his younger brother, Chen Hou-shi, the brothers were reputed to possess some 30,000 volumes. The poet Lin Dachun praised the brothers in verse: “Seeking the roots of learning, I admire the two Chen brothers; thirty thousand slips fill their shelves, while a thousand years of history reside in their minds.” Particularly learned in history, Chen Jin devoted his later years to preserving the literary heritage of his native region. He personally copied the writings of earlier local scholars and sought out incomplete texts, restoring them where possible. His writings include the Cangshu Ji (Record of Book Collecting), the four-volume Wenmiaoxiang Tang Yincao, and other literary works. He also supplemented and compiled six volumes of the Baishi Shanzhi, published in 1883. His library was subsequently destroyed by fire and wartime looting, and much of his collection was lost. His life as a collector and his scholarly legacy, however, remain recorded in later sources, making him an important figure in the history of book collecting in southern Zhejiang during the late Qing dynasty. 陳珒（1807–1885），字熙春，號璞山，晚號勿庵老人，浙江樂清柳市鯉岙村人。咸豐八年（1858）歲貢生。自幼嗜書，七歲入塾，稍長即以搜訪典籍為志，尤好購藏古書。其藏書逾二萬卷，庋藏於「芸香精舍」，並仿《四庫全書總目提要》體例，編纂《芸香精舍書目》，詳錄所藏典籍之著者及爵里，為地方藏書史所重。 陳珒一生以藏書為樂，雖屢以高價購書，至囊空亦不以為悔。其藏書曾匯集經、史、子、集四部，所藏一度達五百九十餘種、一萬四千餘卷；與其弟陳垕石所藏合計，號稱「三萬卷」。詩人林大椿曾以「續學探本原，吾愛兩陳君。架上三萬籤，胸中千古事」譽其昆仲。 陳珒尤長於史學，晚年潛心搜訪鄉邦文獻，親自抄錄先哲遺著，並搜輯殘本加以補綴。其著述有《藏書記》、《聞妙香堂吟草》及文集，並補輯《白石山志》六卷，於光緒九年（1883）刊行。其藏書樓先後遭火災及戰亂劫掠，所藏典籍遂多散佚，惟其藏書事蹟及著述仍見於後世文獻，為晚清浙南藏書文化的重要見證。